The One With Monica's Thunder
"The One With Monica's Thunder" is the seventh season premiere of Friends, which aired on NBC on October 12, 2000. Minutes after Chandler proposes to Monica, she plans to celebrate on the town with her friends - until she catches Ross and Rachel kissing. Plot It is still the night of Monica and Chandler's engagement, and Ross arrives at Monica's apartment and is told the good news and Monica screams from the balcony in happiness. Later the gang decide to dress up to go drink champagne at the Plaza. Rachel is a little sad and lonely and asks Ross whether they want to have a "Bonus Night". Monica catches them kissing and is upset because she waited her whole life for that day and thought it would only be about her engagement but now it is about Rachel and Ross getting back together - they stole "Monica's thunder". Monica is really upset and doesn't want to go out for champagne anymore. Monica and Rachel have a huge fight when Monica accuses Rachel of stealing her "thunder" again (like she did in Monica's 16th birthday where Rachel went "third base" with Monica's cousin since her party was boring) because she wanted to be the first to get married and can't stand her 'former fat friend' is getting married before her. Rachel admits that she kissed Ross because she was sad about not even being close to getting married. Monica forgives Rachel, who's truly sorry for ruining Monica's night. Meanwhile Joey has an audition for a movie and tries desperately to prove he can look like he's only nineteen for the part while Phoebe decides to make certain she's chosen by Monica and Chandler to play her guitar at their wedding reception. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene Courteney Cox Arquette - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Written By: Wil Calhoun, Marta Kauffman & David Crane Trivia General *This is one of the few bottle episodes in which no extra actors or sets are used. *Monica tells Rachel how she wants to announce that she's pregnant when Rachel announces her engagement to Ross. Ironically, the opposite happens in the final episode of this season - Monica and Chandler get married, and Rachel has to announce that she's pregnant. *When Joey comes out dressed as a 19-year-old, Chandler is playing Crash Team Racing on his PlayStation. As with the previous scenes of PlayStation games being played, the game sequence is pre-recorded off-air. However both crew and cast played these games between filming. *During season seven, the theme song is now cut down to just the chorus of the song and there are no dancing scenes of them at the fountain. The DVD, however, has dancing scenes and is the same length as the other seasons. *The Magna Doodle shows a drawing of a cartoon beetle ready to step on an ant. *This was the first episode of Friends that was shown on British TV channel E4. *Running gag: Ross bragging about he and Rachel kissing and possibly getting back together, until Rachel tells him the moment had passed. However they do sleep together again one month before Monica's wedding resulting in Rachel becoming pregnant, after both admitted they wanted to sleep together on this night. *The gang's reaction to Ross and Rachel kissing is likely why they'd agreed not to tell anyone they slept together on the night Emma was conceived. *In the uncut version, an additional scene is shown. The scene shows Rachel giving advice to Joey on how to look like 19 by choosing the right clothes to fulfill that ambition. She then, says to him, "fashion is all about youth". Later in the episode, Joey follows Rachel's advice by trying some clothes on. *When Monica opens the apartment door she says "apparently I've opened the door to the past" when she catches Ross and Rachel kissing. It's also a door to the future as Ross and Rachel get back together and later marry around 4 years after this episode. *In Phoebe's final song, she sings "who will perform the ceremony". Joey ends up conducting not just Chandler and Monica's wedding but also her wedding to Mike Hannigan in the final season and presumably that of Ross and Rachel after the series finale. *In the TV episode, as Phoebe and Joey have their conversation about whether Monica would let Phoebe play at the wedding, Joey sniffs Phoebe's breath and angrily realizes that she ate his candy bar. In the uncut DVD episode, Phoebe and Joey instead adlib a few lines about "would she" when Phoebe says it's beginning to sound like "woodcheese" and Joey says "I could go for some woodcheese right now". It is not clear why the uncut episode omitted the scene from the TV version. *The "incident" Chandler talks about is the same thing which it's implied happened to Ross in "The One With The Jellyfish" (S4E01). *The discussion between Ross and Rachel in the hallway about the good times they had sex comes up again after returning from visiting her father in hospital. *Rachel references Ross's wedding to Emily when she tells Monica "you were so depressed you slept with Chandler." Goofs *This episode was filmed four months after the previous episode, due to Jennifer Aniston's wedding to Brad Pitt, even though they are supposed to take place on the same day. Some mistakes result from this such as: **Matthew Perry is noticeably much thinner after losing 20 pounds due to pancreatitis. **Monica's hair is much darker than at the end of the previous episode and she now has a short side fringe. **Rachel's hair is several inches shorter than at the end of the previous episode. *Monica states that Rachel is jealous that she is getting married before she does, but Rachel technically got married first to Ross in "The One In Vegas, Part 2." *Joey is said to be 31 years old in this episode but in season 2 "The One Where Joey Moves Out" (S2E16) Joey says he is 28. *When Chandler tells Rachel that she looks great, Rachel puts her hair behind her ears. The camera then cuts to Chandler, then straight back to Rachel, and her hair is not behind her ears anymore. *When Phoebe and Joey are talking, Joey is holding a sandwich. When the camera angle changes, the sandwich is on the table. *When Phoebe is singing for the first time, the door behind her is open or closed, depending on the shot. *When Chandler and Joey are in the apartment and Joey says "sup with the wack Playstation sup" Chandler has the Playstation controller on his right leg. The next shot Joey says "C'mon, am I 19 or what"? Chandler has his arm on the recliner and the Controller is tucked under his hand. *When Phoebe sings her first song she says that Monica was "12 years old and addicted to pork" except that Monica is Jewish and doesn't eat pork. *When Chandler is telling Joey "Yes, on a scale from one to ten, ten being the dumbest ''a person can look, you are definitely 19", the word "19" is very obviously dubbed over. The original word looks like "ten", though this is uncertain. ''Chandler's mouth does indeed appear to mouth 10. *When Monica is arguing with Ross and Rachel, her bedroom door is open but when Monica storms out of the door it's closed. *When Ross and Rachel are talking about "being good at the stuff" i.e. sex, her arms change position rapidly between shots. *While the gang are discussing Ross and Rachel kissing and Chandler's thing, Monica's bedroom door changes from open to closed several times. Photos TOWMonica'sThunder.png Phoebe_Plays_Guitar_-_7x01.png Ross&RachelKiss-7x01.png 7x01 Monicas Thunder.jpg TOWMonica'sThunder-Monica.png Monica_and_Rachel-7x01.png 'Sup?.jpg External links * The One with Monica's Thunder at the Internet Movie Database Episode Navigation Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 7 Category:Episodes with Monica's name in the title Category:Episodes Category:Bottle episodes Category:Season 7 Episodes Category:Season Premiere